What are Anesthesiologist Assistants, and how do they make $150k after 2 years?

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I thought they were nurses. Kaiser uses them. The small hospital operating room I work in does not. But ya that's pretty sweet money. But PA's make good money as well for only a 2 year program boat baccalaureate. I guess AA's are essentially PA'. They are assisting the physician. :)
 
Probably because it's a high skilled job.
 
Lol become an AA then. As far as mid-levels go, many PAs or MSNs also make 100K or more. I know some that make >150K w overtime or while working in rural non-desirable locations.

Also, the salary cited is the median not the mean. The average salary of AAs is about 110K according to the AMA.
 
Still, anesthesiologists make $250 + as a median salary. I wouldn't say that's bad.
 
We need to think up new names and acronyms for people to work in anesthesia. There is clearly a hugh need to create more random jobs in that field. How about "Guy Who Sometimes Does Anesthesia" or GWSDA.
 
alpinism said:
Lol become an AA then. As far as mid-levels go, many PAs or MSNs also make 100K or more. I know some that make >150K w overtime or while working in rural non-desirable locations.

Also, the salary cited is the median not the mean. The average salary of AAs is about 110K according to the AMA.
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easy killer, do you know what median is? its a more accurate when looking at skewed income curves.

also, i'm already in at med school, so i'm in it all the way! From a financial standpoint however, the AA masters's is a pretty sweet deal considering the debt/income ratio. That's really my only point.
 
When I shadowed some surgeons, I hung out with the AA, and it was boring as hell. Start an IV, sedate the patient, take vitals during the entire procedure, draw blood as needed, wake the patient up, repeat.
 
IniestaDeMiVida said:
When I shadowed some surgeons, I hung out with the AA, and it was boring as hell. Start an IV, sedate the patient, take vitals during the entire procedure, draw blood as needed, wake the patient up, repeat.
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Yes, but its a damn good lifestyle friendly job, wouldn't you agree?
 
IniestaDeMiVida said:
When I shadowed some surgeons, I hung out with the AA, and it was boring as hell. Start an IV, sedate the patient, take vitals during the entire procedure, draw blood as needed, wake the patient up, repeat.
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You forgot "every Friday deposit paycheck 3x the size of the anesthesia resident you work next to".
 
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Haha absolutely! Lucrative and boring, also a ceiling job, not many places to go from there, but a smart move if you're looking for mid level medical work.
 
TheWeeIceMan said:
We need to think up new names and acronyms for people to work in anesthesia. There is clearly a hugh need to create more random jobs in that field. How about "Guy Who Sometimes Does Anesthesia" or GWSDA.
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Lol to the acronym
 
Looked up Anesthesiologist Assistant programs in my state (CT) and the first one I found says this at the bottom of the information page:

"Students should be aware that currently Connecticut law does not permit the licensing or practice of anesthesiologist assistants in the state of Connecticut. Students will be required to do their clinical work in another state and upon graduation students will not be able to be employed as an anesthesiologist assistant in Connecticut. Students should contact the state board of medicine where they intend to practice or the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants for information on licensure prior to enrolling in the anesthesiologist assistant program."

Well shucks. There's always a catch. Got to admit, the profession sounds tempting. Working as a physician will be more fun though, 'cause they get all the babes.

images
 
I heard they can only practice in about 20 states currently. Info might be outdated, but it's something to think about if you want to be an AA.
 
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TheWeeIceMan said:
We need to think up new names and acronyms for people to work in anesthesia. There is clearly a hugh need to create more random jobs in that field. How about "Guy Who Sometimes Does Anesthesia" or GWSDA.
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How about allowing Veterinary Anesthesiologists to practice human medicine?

I mean, humans are animals too!!
 
AAs can only work in 17 states + DC. Honestly, if I were to consider something outside of becoming a doctor, I would opt for a PA program instead of an AA program simply because PAs are less restricted and are part of a more established field.
 
IniestaDeMiVida said:
As in below MD, DO, PA, NP, but above nurses? Is that ignorant?
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CRNA's are right there with NP's and PA's. A lot of CRNA programs are more difficult to get into than NP or PA programs. I've always understood it as CRNA's are considered the "top" nurses since the Nurse Anesthesia programs (not AA programs) are generally harder to get into compared to the NP and PA programs.

Source: many friends that are nurses, mothers an NP that teaches nursing and dads a CRNA.
 
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BigBOSS1851 said:
CRNA's are right there with NP's and PA's. A lot of CRNA programs are more difficult to get into than NP or PA programs. I've always understood it as CRNA's are considered the "top" nurses since the Nurse Anesthesia programs (not AA programs) are generally harder to get into compared to the NP and PA programs.

Source: many friends that are nurses, mothers an NP that teaches nursing and dads a CRNA.
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I have had a few doctors I've shadowed tell me CRNA's work a fairly regular 40 hour work week with salaries in excess of 100k. I actually had an anesthesiologist tell me if he had to do it over again, he would become a CRNA instead. His reasoning was they have less liability, less training with shorter working hours with a salary that he felt he could support his family with.
 
Bangersandmash said:
I have had a few doctors I've shadowed tell me CRNA's work a fairly regular 40 hour work week with salaries in excess of 100k. I actually had an anesthesiologist tell me if he had to do it over again, he would become a CRNA instead. His reasoning was they have less liability, less training with shorter working hours with a salary that he felt he could support his family with.
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Yes but then you might get to a point where you realize how much you just don't know. After that realization, you could go back and finish medical school and residency to become an anesthesiologist.
 
Think of AA as a PA specialized in anesthesia, similar to how a CRNA could be though of as a NP who has specialized in anesthesia.

That's the best way I have found to describe it. Any position at our hospital that is open to a CRNA is open to an AA, and vice versa.

The AAs seem pretty happy. The only issues are, as others have pointed out, they are currently limited to certain states (that will probably change), they are new, and many health systems have not learned how to use them yet, and there are few schools with these programs currently.

I think a PA forum would be a better place to mine for info on this field.
 
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WTEngel said:
Think of AA as a PA specialized in anesthesia, similar to how a CRNA could be though of as a NP who has specialized in anesthesia.

That's the best way I have found to describe it. Any position at our hospital that is open to a CRNA is open to an AA, and vice versa.

The AAs seem pretty happy. The only issues are, as others have pointed out, they are currently limited to certain states (that will probably change), they are new, and many health systems have not learned how to use them yet, and there are few schools with these programs currently.

I think a PA forum would be a better place to mine for info on this field.
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That's a helpful way of looking at it, thanks.
 
IniestaDeMiVida said:
When I shadowed some surgeons, I hung out with the AA, and it was boring as hell. Start an IV, sedate the patient, take vitals during the entire procedure, draw blood as needed, wake the patient up, repeat.
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Sounds good to me...
 
getdown said:
yes until **** hits the fan and the patient's life depends on diagnosing the problem and then addressing it. Plus, you don't know what you don't know and that makes it infinitely worse.
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Why are you assuming I wouldn't know how to diagnose and address a problem? This post had nothing to do with that :rolleyes:
 
Psai said:
They exist to help the doctor, not the other way around
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they exist to make the doctor capable of overseeing more patients....which is not the same as who helps who when it comes to not getting patients killed.

nobody needs the the CRNA/AA when the patient is tanking, that's when they need the doctor's help
 
It seems problematic if the doctor needed to come in every time one of their patients was tanking. I feel like AAs need to know enough to handle it themselves first if they can
 
rhannahbrown said:
It seems problematic if the doctor needed to come in every time one of their patients was tanking. I feel like AAs need to know enough to handle it themselves first if they can
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This is the type of thinking that ends up with a patient dead. If you're a CRNA or AA, especially new grads, the first thing you should do if something looks bad is page the attending. Trying to "handle it themselves first" ends up using up valuable time that could be used in diagnosing and keeping the patient alive. If you have more experience you can trouble shoot and keep the patient afloat up until the attending shows up. The caveat again is experience. If you're a CRNA or AA with 20+ years of experience and have had your fair share of bad situations sure you can handle it. Take a gander at the minimum requirements to graduate CRNA or AA school. Residents easily cover and even double that amount by the end of their FIRST year. So yes, most AAs don't have enough experience to handle any tenuous circumstance by themselves.
 
getdown said:
This is the type of thinking that ends up with a patient dead. If you're a CRNA or AA, especially new grads, the first thing you should do if something looks bad is page the attending. Trying to "handle it themselves first" ends up using up valuable time that could be used in diagnosing and keeping the patient alive. If you have more experience you can trouble shoot and keep the patient afloat up until the attending shows up. The caveat again is experience. If you're a CRNA or AA with 20+ years of experience and have had your fair share of bad situations sure you can handle it. Take a gander at the minimum requirements to graduate CRNA or AA school. Residents easily cover and even double that amount by the end of their FIRST year. So yes, most AAs don't have enough experience to handle any tenuous circumstance by themselves.
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Then in response to your previous message "yes until **** hits the fan and the patient's life depends on diagnosing the problem and then addressing it. Plus, you don't know what you don't know and that makes it infinitely worse." You're contradicting yourself. When I said the job sounded good to me, you came back with a comment about how 'yeah it sounds good until you have to diagnose and address the problem before your patient dies.' Now you're saying that it's not my problem. If an AA can just go cry to the doctor every time something goes wrong, then it's not their responsibility to deal with it.
 
rhannahbrown said:
Then in response to your previous message "yes until **** hits the fan and the patient's life depends on diagnosing the problem and then addressing it. Plus, you don't know what you don't know and that makes it infinitely worse." You're contradicting yourself. When I said the job sounded good to me, you came back with a comment about how 'yeah it sounds good until you have to diagnose and address the problem before your patient dies.' Now you're saying that it's not my problem. If an AA can just go cry to the doctor every time something goes wrong, then it's not their responsibility to deal with it.
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What are you talking about? I'm not sure where the disconnect is but ok I'll explain it again.

By virtue of trying to cut medical costs, midlevel providers will be increasingly utilized despite their relative deficiency in medical knowledge and training relative to the doctors that they are supposed to replace. In most circumstances when everything rolls along smoothly without deviations they're adequate replacements and their gaps in medical knowledge won't be a detriment to the patient. This is no more prevalent than in anesthesia where the abundance of monitoring equipment narrows that gap. However, in those rare circumstances, when something does go terribly wrong no amount of monitoring can adequately compensate for actual medical knowledge and training, especially in newly minted mid-level providers. That being said, a non-MD that has been working in the field for a long time can potentially gain that knowledge by virtue of experience.

As a medial professional in whichever capacity you work in you ARE obligated to take care of the patient. But the extent to which you're able to do so adequately depends on the breadth of your medical knowledge and clinical experience. Going back to the example above. You as the AA should try your best if something happens IF you know how to handle the situation. Trying to handle the situation when you have no idea what's going on is simply putting the patient in greater risk of dying so the best thing for you to do at that point is to page someone more knowledgeable than yourself, i.e the attending.

As an aside. The AAs should be notifying the attendings anyway since the patient is not their patient. They are practicing UNDER the license of the supervising physician and since that supervising physician is liable for anything that happens to the patient while under their care they should be notified of any abnormalities that occur during the case.
 
getdown said:
What are you talking about? I'm not sure where the disconnect is but ok I'll explain it again.

By virtue of trying to cut medical costs, midlevel providers will be increasingly utilized despite their relative deficiency in medical knowledge and training relative to the doctors that they are supposed to replace. In most circumstances when everything rolls along smoothly without deviations they're adequate replacements and their gaps in medical knowledge won't be a detriment to the patient. This is no more prevalent than in anesthesia where the abundance of monitoring equipment narrows that gap. However, in those rare circumstances, when something does go terribly wrong no amount of monitoring can adequately compensate for actual medical knowledge and training, especially in newly minted mid-level providers. That being said, a non-MD that has been working in the field for a long time can potentially gain that knowledge by virtue of experience.

As a medial professional in whichever capacity you work in you ARE obligated to take care of the patient. But the extent to which you're able to do so adequately depends on the breadth of your medical knowledge and clinical experience. Going back to the example above. You as the AA should try your best if something happens IF you know how to handle the situation. Trying to handle the situation when you have no idea what's going on is simply putting the patient in greater risk of dying so the best thing for you to do at that point is to page someone more knowledgeable than yourself, i.e the attending.

As an aside. The AAs should be notifying the attendings anyway since the patient is not their patient. They are practicing UNDER the license of the supervising physician and since that supervising physician is liable for anything that happens to the patient while under their care they should be notified of any abnormalities that occur during the case.
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Exactly. I don't disagree with you. Actually I very much agree. I said I think AAs should try to take care of the problem first, if they can. That is, if they know how to take care of it. No one's ego is worth a patient's life.
 
The job of a midlevel is to babysit patients that don't quite require constant physician oversight unless the situation requires it. That means being able to triage problems and taking care of those that can be taken care of. Unfortunately, many midlevels don't recognize the shortcomings of their training and labor under the delusion that they are "practicing nursing" or that their clinical experience is somehow equivalent to ours because theirs is more focused and efficient. This is all a bunch of crock.
 
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